Aside from dupuis logging double duty, I call this the Vegas favorite.

Agreed....although I would probably switch Tangradi and Kennedy....

Team needs 1 more top 6 forward and some muscle on the D....

I actually think Cooke is more likely to creep up onto Malkin's line than Kennedy is. Kunitz worked well with them last year, and Cooke is a similar crash-and-bang type of player. Kennedy is too much of a puck carrier to work well with Malkin IMO

This lockout lasted so long I forgot how little we did this offseason.

The team actually got worse on paper since that loss in RD1 to Philly.

Still incredibly soft on defense. Still very small at forward. Should make the playoffs as usual but it's hard to go in a run without a few big punishing forwards, and crease-clearing toughness on defense.

Niskanen, Martin, Despres, Lovejoy are 4 or your top 6 D. Remember opposing forwards around our crease and in our zone last year never having to worry about paying a price. That bothered me.

The U wrote:This lockout lasted so long I forgot how little we did this offseason.

The team actually got worse on paper since that loss in RD1 to Philly.

Still incredibly soft on defense. Still very small at forward. Should make the playoffs as usual but it's hard to go in a run without a few big punishing forwards, and crease-clearing toughness on defense.

Niskanen, Martin, Despres, Lovejoy are 4 or your top 6 D. Remember opposing forwards around our crease and in our zone last year never having to worry about paying a price. That bothered me.

I agree. It's fun that hockey's back, but now we're back to the reality that we got definitively worse on paper over the offseason.

Are we doomed? No. But this team needs a totally new approach if they want to win this year.